Loading...Sharing our faith and witnessing to Jesus’ love for us is not always easy.
For one thing, you have to be brave enough to talk about faith.
For another, we like to feel successful at endeavors – including this one!
But, the truth is, God calls us to be faithful at talking about Jesus’ love for us,
not successful.
I recently heard about a Pastor and Missionary who served in Tanzania for many years. He and his wife (who was a nurse and who ran a clinic out of the back half of their house) were well respected and welcomed in the village and the district,
but not many people came to worship.
Indeed, the pastor’s wife was more “successful” as a nurse
than he was as a missionary.
The villagers were Maasai people who considered themselves to be Old Testament people: the read and honored the Hebrew Scriptures, they believed in God, but they considered Jesus a prophet – not the Son of God.
One day, after the pastor had been in Tanzania for many years,
the chief shaman had a vision:
a voice came to him and said, Believe and be baptized.
The shaman ignored the message.
Then, a couple of days later, the shaman saw a rock shaped like an ear.
He picked it up and put it to his own ear and heard the same voice say,
Believe and be baptized.
He couldn’t ignore the message a second time!
He went to the main village and told the Maasai chief about his visions.
The chief and shaman went to the pastor and told him that they and all the villagers were ready to believe and be baptized. They arranged for several baptisms around the district, in different locations by water.
On the days of the baptisms, thousands came to be baptized.
They came in throngs to the various locations.
When I heard this story, I was amazed and impressed.
It is dramatic and remarkable, and it is much like the story told in Acts,
of Peter preaching and the people who wanted to know what to do:
“repent and be baptized!”,
and they were – in the thousands.
But, the other detail about the pastor and missionary in Tanzania and the Maasai people, well, two details, really stand out:
1. The Tanzania church is one of the fastest growing churches in the Lutheran communion;
2. In every location where a baptism was scheduled, it rained on the day of the baptism. This is particularly remarkable as in Maasai culture and religious understanding, rain indicates the presence of God.
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We’re here today
not part of a mass baptism (although we DO remember our baptisms!)
nor is it a rainy day (YAY! It’s sunny, finally!).
But, we’re gathered here to be faithful and to witness
to the presence of God in our lives,
to be surprised by the way Jesus shows up in our midst
– even when we don’t recognize him,
to experience the healing balm and comfort of the Holy Spirit giving us the gift of reconciliation and wholeness – even when we feel broken.
~~~~~~~~~~
Like Cleopas and his companion in the Gospel story –
feeling lost, abandoned, even betrayed, and filled with grief –
Jesus walks with us in the midst of ... whatever.
We don’t always recognize that Jesus is there until we look back.
Maybe we’re “kept from recognizing” him
not as a test,
or as if God is mean to us,
But, our own grief or sense of loss may overwhelm us – skewing our perception.
Yet, here is Christ among us
gathering up our fragmented lives
opening up the good news
breaking bread and nourishing us
then making us stand on our own
and faithful go out to witness.
Gathered, healed, nourished, and strengthened,
we are sent out to be faithful and – dare I say –
excited witnesses and story-tellers of
the love and hope and salvation that we have
from God in Christ through the mystery of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
